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Thursday, January 1, 2009

Chasing Eagles - Skywatch Friday

Happy New Year everyone!

I want to share an interesting chain of events that happened to me last week one afternoon while driving home. With less than two miles to go I spotted a beautiful bald eagle perched on top of a large snag. Trying not to be over anxious and wreck my truck, I immediately pulled over and watched it for several minutes. I've seen bald eagles in our area before but its been a while and this was much closer than the other times. On top of that large dead tree it seemed to be surveying the surrounding area as if to say "I'm the king of this castle". I was kicking myself for not having my camera on hand. Isn't that always the case though?

After a few minutes of watching the eagle I decided to race home to get my camera, hoping it would still be there when I returned. I returned back to the spot where I saw the eagle but unfortunately it had moved on. Thinking that the eagle may show up again I parked my truck in a field nearby and watched closely with my camera in hand. After a while I concluded that it probably wasn't coming back, but not all was lost - there were other sites to enjoy.

Canada geese were flying high above me. No matter how often I see geese fly over, I always stop what I'm doing to look up and watch as if I'm paying some sort of strange reverence to them. I don't know, there's something about the sound of geese flying above that puts me in a serene, Zen-like state of mine.

They just kept coming...

After I while with no eagle in site I began to head back home. On my way, just a couple hundred yards from my house, I spotted a large hawk swooping down from a tree and I watched as several songbirds scattered. The hawk, failing to catch his prey, perched in a nearby oak tree. I slowed the truck down, grabbed my camera and snapped off a couple quick photos before it flew away. It was a red-shouldered hawk. Definitely an exciting find!

While I failed to capture any bald eagle photos there was plenty of action. Remember not to focus on just one thing, you may miss out on other things happening around you. And that concludes my adventurous Saturday afternoon ride home.

Hi- Those times we don't have our cameras- grr! Your photos that you did capture are cool. I like the geese formation and seeing that hawk must have been exciting! We have the same type of birds in our area but I see eagles, hawks or vultures when I look into our backyard "forest", but if I open our deck or sliding glass door they fly away, so I shoot through the glass and I'm not proficient at that yet. Happy New Yr!

The hawk looks so majestic! Hawks and Eagles! Are there any other birds more majestic than these? May be vultures too? Great post, Alan. I'm glad I found your blog and I'll definitely come back.Happy New Year!

Nice captures Alan. Keep your camera handy and you will see that Bald Eagle back on that same snag, I would bet money on that. They always return to there favorite roosts.

I love the red-shouldered hawk and goose fly over captures. I have been lucky enough to follow a red-shouldered hawk pair nest and raise their young this last spring and hope to get some better photos of them this spring. They are such gorgeous birds.

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About Me

I'm a Virginia Master Naturalist and author of this blog; where I enjoy writing about birds, gardening and the natural world. I'm also a contributing blogger for Virginia Gardener Magazine @ http://vagardener.com/birdsnsuch